Recent Non-Locking Carabiner Reviews

Mammut Crag

Petzl Spirit Straight Gate

A good design. I have used this carabiner for about a year on my safety lanyard to quickly attach to bolts or anchors while rigging. Would also make a great draw carabiner. The snag-free nose and straight gate make clipping a cinch. Full review

Metolius FS Mini Biner

The best for compact, lightweight anchors. I use them to rig static ropes to bolts in caves. They are so small and lightweight, I hardly feel them in my kit. I do not use them for draws due to the small rope well, or for situations where cross loading is possible on the wire gate.
I definitely recommend these. They are lighter and easier to use than most. Full review

CAMP Photon Wire Straight Gate

The Camp Photon wire gate carabiner is the lightest full size carabiner in the world and has an extremely large gate opening for easy clipping. Review The Camp Photon carabiner is amazingly light weighing in at 29 grams. It also has a one of the largest gate openings at 28mm for the straight gate and 29mm for the bent gate. I currently have 12 Photon Wire Bent Gate carabiners on the rope end of my quickdraws and they are noticeably lighter than the hotwires I replaced while still being easy to clip. Full review

Black Diamond Oz

The Oz carabiner is a small carabiner that can be used in sport, trad, and alpine climbing. It's lightweight but has a decent gate opening making it more functional than other small carabiners. Review The Oz carabiner is a good all-around biner. It’s not the lightest out there nor does it have the largest gate opening (22mm) but it works well and I’ve always found Black Diamond wire gates easy to clip. The new Oz has a wire hood design making it keylock like the Petzl Ange S but is the cheaper… Full review

Black Diamond Oval Wire Carabiner

Caution: I DON'T CLIMB. So if you're looking for a review of this product based on its use as a climbing accessory, you won't find it here. I bought these carabiners for use as an accessory biner. They only cost a couple dollars more than the cheap accessory biners, so I thought the extra $ was worth it to know that I'll probably never come up with a way to destroy them. I recommend these for use as a general use biner for attaching things to your pack or belt, and for making a simple pulley system… Full review

Black Diamond HotWire

A good, basic carabiner. I think of these as a lighter replacement for my old standard ovals or Ds, primarily for long slings. These have a good feel. A good all purpose carabiner. Full review

Black Diamond Neutrino

Lightweight. Strong. Reliable. What else do you need? This is a great little product. I don't know if there are lighter full-size, full strength carabiners out there, but these are fantastic. Obviously the way you use the carabiner is going to change your opinion of them, but for hammock camping and general campsite use, they're fantastic. The biggest drawing point is the weight. I think if my 30 L bag were filled with these, I wouldn't notice. And so, they double as a means to hang stuff off… Full review

Black Diamond HotWire

This is my standard carabiner on my rack because it has a great feel and an excellent gate opening. The feel of the carabiner in hand is good for intuitive clipping which I prefer because I don't want to spend more time than I need to put in my protection. Full review